2000
“Grizz’s chess set?” Ginny asked.
“Yeah.” Tommy crossed his arms, a line creasing his brow. “Grizz didn’t mention it. Someone must’ve packed it up from the prison and sent it here. I guess it’s something that should really be saved for Mimi.”
“I don’t think we could give it to Mimi without explaining why it would rightfully be hers,” she answered him coolly.
“I didn’t say we should give it to her today or even tomorrow, Gin. I just said we should save it for her.”
“Fine. Then it’s agreed. I say we stick it in a closet until we can figure it out.” She put her hand to her forehead and, lightly shaking her head, said, “I can’t think about this now, Tommy.”
She didn’t look angry anymore. She looked sad.
“What are you thinking about, sweetheart?” His voice was quiet.
She stiffened at the “sweetheart,” but her desire to talk prevailed. “I was just remembering when I got it for him,” she whispered. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I was so into saving the animals when I was a kid. I’d started this petition to free the porpoises from the Seaquarium when I was ten.” She gave a rueful smile, thinking back at the girl she’d once been. “I’d spend hours walking down my block with a laundry basket, wearing oven mitts. I couldn’t stand the thought of the land crabs getting run over so I relocated them.”
Tommy already knew this because he had witnessed some of it. But he didn’t interrupt.
“But I never realized what that chess set cost the animals that had to die for it. I mean, ivory pieces?” She shook her head. “What an idiot. Never once did it occur to me to wonder where ivory came from. Maybe we should donate Grizz’s set to charity. Maybe it could be used in some way to put an end to the illegal ivory trade.”
“Ginny, will you ever stop beating yourself up about everything? I’m not an expert and neither were you when you got it for him. You were only fifteen. We didn’t even have the Internet back then for you to look into it. How would you have known if the ivory trade was illegal or not?”
“It should’ve been.”
“Yes, Gin, it should have been.” He walked over to where she was still sitting on the piano bench, taking her hand. She pulled it away. “We have to talk, Ginny, and we can’t do it now. We don’t have time. Jason is expecting a ride later and you and I have too much to discuss. What you said before, about his friend asking if we’d gone to see someone get fried? And now this journal?”
She stood and looked at him sadly. “You still have to leave, Tommy. I honestly don’t think I can have you living here. Not after knowing you kept this—this huge secret from me for so long. I have things to settle in my head. I have thinking to do.”
He started to speak, but she held up her hand. “I don’t care how you look at it. You deceived me. I am a fool for never having seen it, but still, you should have told me.”
She sized him up now with fresh eyes. Tommy didn’t look like Grizz, didn’t have the same features, but he was big and imposing. He had matured into a man with the same build as his father. How had she never noticed? Or had she noticed and never let herself pursue the thought?
No. She wouldn’t do that to herself. Tommy didn’t resemble Grizz in the least. She’d never had a clue.
He’d deceived her. They’d all deceived her.
Her life was a lie.
Tommy touched her arm. “Gin, I can’t leave. Mimi and Jason would want to know why. No.” He shook his head, his voice firm. “I’m not leaving.”
She wrenched away from his touch. “Well, then, I guess I will.”
“Ginny, wait. Moe’s journal. I never knew about it. Don’t you think we should read it? Together?”
“Maybe, but not now. I need to pack. I’m going to Carter’s.”
“You can’t leave, Ginny. What do you want me to tell our children?” His eyes were red. “And—and do you really think Carter’s house is the best place for you to be after today?”
If she was weakening before, that question bolstered her resolve. Carter and her husband lived in the house Grizz had built for Ginny in Shady Ranches. Ginny straightened her shoulders.
“I’ve been to that house a hundred times since I moved out. And so have you. I can be there. It doesn’t bother me.” She started for the bedroom, then turned back. “And as far as the kids are concerned, make something up. You seem like you’re really good at that.”
Tommy just stared after her.
He looked down and realized he was still holding the journal. Maybe they shouldn’t read it together after all. Maybe there was something in it that could hurt her more. Maybe there was something in it that could hurt him, too.
He headed for the kitchen and roughly sat at the table, staring at the closed notebook.
Did he even want to know what was in it?